majority leader harry reid has announced a final vote on the nomination will have then thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. eastern. wednesday speakers included samet terse mel martinez, kit bond, john cornyn, al franken and a group of women senators. >> senator of minnesota is recognized. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. chairman for those remarks on behalf of judge sonia sotomayor for a very strong nominee. s chairman of the senate judiciary committee i want to thank you and senator sessions for the way you conducted the confirmation hearing, the dignity shown to the nominee in that hearing. i think that was very important to the process. we may not have agreed with the conclusions some of the colleagues reached but no one can argue it was conducted with great dignity. today i will be speaking in support of judge sotomayor's nomination but first i am going to be joined by several of my esteemed fellow women senators including senator shaheen of new hampshire who is here already. senator stabenow of michigan, senator jalabert and from new york and senator murray of washington state. w